The two things you mentioned don't really affect the gameplay at all. I guess if you were looking for a GTA style sandbox game where you could just cause chaos in the streets it does not satisfy that. But if you want to explore a huge detailed city and do quests/mission etc.. it works really well.
The police spawning/ai issue is really dumb when you encounter it, but as long as you aren't trying to shoot random people in the street you don't encounter it.
The traffic is mostly just background detail. Again if your goal is to create a big traffic jam ala GTA then it won't be nearly as entertaining but in terms of just making it feel like you are in a living breathing city.. it gets the job done.
Many of the side missions are fairly detailed and interesting, it is fun just exploring the city and completing missions.
The police spawning/ai issue is really dumb when you encounter it, but as long as you aren't trying to shoot random people in the street you don't encounter it.
The traffic is mostly just background detail. Again if your goal is to create a big traffic jam ala GTA then it won't be nearly as entertaining but in terms of just making it feel like you are in a living breathing city.. it gets the job done.
Many of the side missions are fairly detailed and interesting, it is fun just exploring the city and completing missions.